Tag: hotel sex kits

It's time for a (romantic) walk down memory lane with a HotelChatter flashback!

Last week, we were embarrassed by certain hotels who had released eye-rolling, groan-inducing (not the good kind) 50 Shades of Grey-themed packages. To be clear, we weren't embarrassed because we're prudish people, but rather, the grab (again, not the good kind) for guests was obvious, uninspired, unsexy and just silly.

But a longtime reader reminded us that hotels were not always pushing serious sexytime in their packages or in their minibars. (Henry Blodget, this sexy history lesson is for you!)

Remember how daring it was when the Bryant Park Hotel in NYC partnered up with The Pleasure Chest in mid-2007? Guests could order their toys from The Pleasure Chest directly through the hotel by dialing zero on the room phone. Later, a discreet grey box would arrive in their room with the item or items the guests purchased. (Coincidentally, the Bryant Park Hotel first opened its doors on Valentine's Day in 2001.)

If you’re in London today and happen to be mooching past Leicester Square, you might notice that the W Hotel – which usually exudes a mysterious ice maiden white-blue light has turned scarlet woman, with red lights (ooh err) running all across the building. The above pic is how we saw it this afternoon, but in the evening, according to the hotel, it's looking like this:

But fear not, for it hasn’t taken the recent specially-written-for-it porn to heart; it’s red today to mark World AIDS Day. Very nice too; but that’s not all.

The hotel has also knocked out some new brand new sex kits in support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and lured in Kelly Rowland – who is now huge in the UK thanks to her status as an X Factor judge – to support the cause, by waxing lyrical about them.

The best part (other than the glorious Lady K’s involvement of them, obvs) is that over 50% of the £20 will be donated to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The new kits cost £20 and contain condoms, three types of lube, a "vibrating ring with the strongest vibrations and special pleasure bumps" a "super-powered mini massager", a chocolate and vanilla massage candle that's rather sweetly called "Monogamy" and herbal supplements for both men and women to "stimulate energy levels", all ensuring, according to the hotel, that "guests can play hard but play safe."

Last week, we gave you a peek inside the indoor pools at Atlantic City's The Water Club at the Borgata. Well, continuing with the theme of...water, today we're going inside one of the bathrooms.

And what goes hand in hand with a sexy bathroom in Atlantic City? A hotel sex kit! Or, as The Water Club likes to call them, "Passion Kits," which include everything from condoms to lube to mints to massage oil to "lover's scratch off games." That last one isn't something we normally associate with steamy hotel room hook-ups, but then again, we never say no to a free scratch-off.

Just remember not to take it into the shower with you—a soggy winning ticket won't be of much use!

There are few things we like doing more in a hotel room than perusing hotel sex kits (only a slight exaggeration, sadly) but our stay at the Andaz San Diego last night left us slightly confused but yet more grossed out.

We were fine with the sex kit itself – a nicely louche-looking affair of condoms, lube, massage oil and a bashfully named “couples ring” – but then looking through the other contents of the minibar tray, we found ourselves baffled by a small box about six inches big but with something a lot smaller rattling around in it.

We've always been, ahem, excited by the presence of sex kits in hotels, often found in the mini-bar with products ranging from the merely protective (a packet of condoms) to the truly scintillating (vibes, silk ties, gold handcuffs, et.al.) But as with on demand hotel porn, sex kits aren't always an excitable amenity for everyone.

The Berns Hotel in Stockholm recently started offering sex toys in their minibars. Nothing as scandalous as pictured on this news site but the for-purchase options include handcuffs, stay ups and a vibrator. Yet apparently, these new offerings are not jibing with the police crackdown on prostitution:

The hotel is trying to glorify something that we are working to de-glorify," said Tom Eckerling at Stockholm police to the newspaper.

The hotel has no plans to change its minibar assortment however and reported that the response has been positive from guests, which it claims is made up of a chic fashion, art and music clientèle.

Yes, you read that headline right. Thompson Hotels will now be selling limited-edition designer condoms at their hotels.

Fashion designer Charlotte Ronson (sister to Sam and Mark) has teamed up with Proper Attire condoms to create stylishly packaged condoms so that ladies will feel comfortable reaching for protection that isn't branded with words like "MAGNUM" and "Ribbed for her pleasure."

Instead, the condom package designs are tasteful and whimsical and come in three different types--color (hot pink), sheer and basic. Even better, each sale will benefit Planned Parenthood.

They say everything’s sexier in Paris (or, at least, the folks at Paris Las Vegas like to say it is). So you’d expect their hotel sex kit to be a pretty snazzy affair, right?

Well, we’re feeling a bit let down. When we spied “Romance Kit” ($5) on the minibar list at the weekend, we thought it might be something frou frou, reminiscent of the days of the Moulin Rouge or something like that.But then we opened the fridge to find a box of condoms. Just a box of condoms. Sitting on the shelf on its lonesome, looking a bit sorry for itself. Are they taking the back to basics approach? Or maybe everything’s so sexy in Paris that you don’t need any, um, extras to get you in the mood?

Hotel sex kits have been around for a while now so it never surprises us when we walk into hip boutique hotels in urban areas and find a pack of condoms with some fun extras awaiting in the mini-bar.

But we were taken aback when we saw this: The Wynn Intimacy Kit atop the mini-bar at The Encore Las Vegas. Old people use hotel sex kits?

We kid, we kid. Actually, the Encore is the hipper younger sister to the Wynn Las Vegas and during our recent stay, we saw more folks below the age of 40 than we've had in recent memory at the Wynn/Encore properties. Certainly, the average hotel guest age was a lot lower than it was when we first stayed here back in January.

Would you be willing to drop dough on some super-expensive sexytime hotel amenities before you dropped trou for your super-sweet-sexytime? We've asked you this question a few times before  and, frankly, barring some sort of heat-of-the-moment emergency, we're not so sure we would drop some major dough to dig into a fancy-schmancy hotel's sex kit. We've discussed this before.

But there are people out there who, it seems, are willing to fork over a bunch of money for the activities that precede spooning sessions (see what we did there?): the Bryant Park Hotel Twitter reports:

What motivates you to shell out the big dollas for those sexytime amenities  that is, intimacy kits, toys and whatnot  from the hotel room minibar? Is it an impulse decision in the heat of the moment? A no-other-choice result of your lack of preparation? Or maybe you're just wooed by the sheer novelty of being able to obtain fancy, dressed-up condoms from minibars these days?

And another question: when you purchase (er, even open) a hotel room intimacy kit, what's in there that you want or need the most? If you're anything like us, we think you're probably most interested in the little somethin'-somethin' made out of latex which should cost, like, less than a dollar. And yet: to get a condom in your hotel room, you often find yourself shelling out well over $10 because the love gloves are bundled into an expensive intimacy kit. But does it have to be that way?

There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.

· More Detes on the Future Hotel Room: More pictures of that whole weird LAVA room has come online and is it just us or is this a total hotel bonerkiller? The room will use high-tech lighting to help guests adjust from jet-lag but can they do something about the stark white furniture? Also, do not be hungover in this room. [Gizmodo]

· Bellevue Hospital Hotel? Rumour return that the craziest crazy place in NYC might turn into a hotel. Or it might not. It's not exactly the best time to open an asylum hotel. [Curbed]